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Inauguration will be a high-profile moment for poetry

Jim Shelton, New Haven Register

Posted:
01/19/2013 06:03:44 AM MST

Updated:
01/19/2013 03:07:03 PM MST

**FILE** This Jan. 20, 2009 file photo shows Elizabeth Alexander as she recites a poem during swearing-in ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Millions watched Alexander read a poem last month at President Barack Obama's inauguration. But few, so far, have wanted to buy it. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, FILE) (Ron Edmonds)

NEW HAVEN - Presidential inaugurations are where statecraft and stagecraft merge in the service of history.

Yale University professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander understands this better than most. She composed and recited a poem for Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009, and she'll be on hand as a spectator for Obama's second inaugural on Monday.

"What good art does is, it stills us for a moment," Alexander said. "It allows us to behold and to receive. An inauguration is meant to still time a moment, after the heat of the election, and remind us we are all Americans."

Alexander, who is chairwoman of Yale's African American studies department and a professor of English, took part in an online Yale video event this week, "The Art of Inauguration." Yale theater historian Joseph Roach joined her for the 45-minute discussion.

"There are great precedents that the president must feel right now, such as Lincoln's second inaugural address," Roach said. He added that "the opportunity to speak to everyone, as everyone's president, is a great challenge and opportunity. It's an occasion to step back and think about the larger enterprise" in which the country is engaged.

Instead, we bring the nation's great poets, musicians and singers to Washington, D.C., for an outdoor celebration of democracy in the middle of January.

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Four years ago, Alexander recited "Praise Song for the Day," which she wrote expressly for the inauguration. Well before the event, she consulted with an actress friend about her delivery. She also memorized the poem, kept spare copies handy and practiced speaking it aloud.

It's fortunate she did so, she said, because the first time she read the poem aloud, "I burst into extended sobs and thought, 'Good thing I got that out of the way.'"

Roach said participants at an inauguration are literally and figuratively "talking to the horizon," because the event carries such immense historical and cultural significance. He cited John F. Kennedy's inaugural in 1961, where Robert Frost delivered a poem.

"I remember it as a seventh grader," Roach said. "We stopped class. It's a vivid memory. It's part of how I view myself as a citizen."

Roach's only quibble with Obama's first inauguration was the revelation that as cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed, the audience was listening to a taped version of the music. An inauguration should strive for complete authenticity and transparency, he explained.

"It's the humanity of it. Much like in a democracy, you don't always get it right the first time," Roach said.

On Monday, Richard Blanco will become the fifth poet to take part in an inauguration, joining Frost, Maya Angelou, Miller Williams and Alexander. Alexander said she hopes future presidents will continue the tradition, because writers and performers bring a unique sort of commentary to the proceedings.

"There are some things art can say that political speeches can't say, or won't," she explained. "There are tones, there are nuances, that we aren't likely to hear in political speech."

Whatever happens Monday, Alexander will be there in person to hear it. Only this time, she probably won't be sitting up front next to Aretha Franklin.

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